Looking to buy a new welder and have shortlisted a couple portamig and oxford. They both come out of a uk factory in york and have good reviews on the mig forum. The question is they are not cheap so does anyone have an alternative or experiences of the ones above.

I've ran an old sealey 130 and want something more pro a bonus would be somethings that can go down to 15/20 amps which the above two do.

Also motivated by cost looking for a welder between 170 to 210 amp ish single phase.

buzzer

About time the Hitop got some love

Miller 151s is the one for me ar kid

Menace wrote:About time the Hitop got some love

Thought it best before i get to old

fastwheels wrote:Miller 151s is the one for me ar kid

Cheers our kid I know miller is a good old British built machine with Italian parts I believe. Maybe it loves the metal together

Hope your ok and managing to get some jobs in

Lincoln 181c for me & I love it, Dave with the graffiti samba has a portamig & it's a good piece of kit...

Lincoln 170i Faultless....

Portamig here. Excellent performance on low current, plenty at the top end when you need it

i used to use a snap-on 130 which is just like a lot of the others being a ceabora but badged machine. but like most of them, they don't perform to well down the bottom end of the amp range.
what i did was to search out one in as good condition as i could find that was made about 15yrs ago. the reason for that is that those early machines were built with copper core transformers. nice big ones that gives you more control then using it in those lower power ranges.
all the makes mentioned earlier have made welders with quality components but when i was looking i fell over a murex 160 tradesmig on ebay for £199 buy it now. i was prompted by a mail from the guy who runs the migwelding forum who's advice i had asked "what to buy" he said if i didn't buy it, he would! so thats what i'm using. very nice too. no more .... welding!
keep away from halfords and the like.
cheers

Kemmpi 180 its a great bit of kit

Reggie wrote:Kemmpi 180 its a great bit of kit

Hi simon

Is that the small inverter type which you can set metal thickness etc or the larger transformer type?

buzzers

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... 8644,d.d2k

Inverta type its a great bit of kit ,best ive ever used.

esab c170 is what i use its an awesome peice of kit the new version is called a c171 though
http://www.engweld.co.uk/Welding_Machin ... elder.html
that is the cheapest you will get it too as engweld are a main dealer for esab its a grand elsewhere, i have had mine 6 years and it has earned its money 5 times over, i have an esab plasma cutter too and that is just as awesome. i run a seperate 32 amp ring in garage for the welder on commando plugs as 13 amp is not really enough for it when you crank it up

I've tried lots of different MIG welders but stick with my trusty old Murex Tradesmig 160 for most jobs. I use a Clarke 90 for small jobs away from home - the Murex is a tad heavy to keep dragging in and out of the van, but a great workshop welder.